Department of Homeland SecurityDepartment of Labor

USCIS Policy Updates & Department of Labor News: January 6, 2023

USCIS Policy Updates for Certain Permanent Residency Card Renewal Applicants In response to lengthy processing times for naturalization applicants, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has updated its Policy Manual to allow for the automatic extension of Permanent Resident Cards (i.e., “Green Cards”) for individuals with properly filed and pending Form N-400, Application for

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COVID-19Department of Homeland Security

Department of Homeland Security Update: November 8, 2022

Loss of Accreditation Determination by the U.S. Department of Education Based on the recent determination by the U.S. Department of Education that it no longer recognizes the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (“ACICS”) as an accrediting agency, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is having to revisit the effect of same on the

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Department of Homeland SecurityImmigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) News

USCIS, DHS and ICE Updates

Automatic Extension Period Increased for Green Card Validity As of September 26, 2022, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) began automatically extending the validity of expired Permanent Resident Cards (i.e., green cards) from 12 to 24 months for lawful permanent residents who have timely and properly filed an application to renew an expiring or

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Immigration

E-Verify Updates and Immigration Enforcement News

Social Security Administration Resumes Regular E-Verify Timeframes and Operations The Social Security Administration (“SSA”) has resumed its regular E-Verify operations and is no longer providing extended timeframes to resolve employment eligibility verification mismatches for cases referred on or after July 15, 2022. As such, any mismatches referred on or after July 15th must be resolved

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Citizenship and ImmigrationH-1B

Department of Homeland Security Updates: September 6, 2022

H-1B Cap Reached for Fiscal Year 2023 On August 23, 2022, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) reached the congressionally-mandated H-1B numerical allocations for the regular cap and advanced degree exemption (“master’s cap”). Notifications regarding selection or non-selection have been sent to registrants’ online accounts and the status for registrations that were not selected will

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Citizenship and ImmigrationCOVID-19

Department of Homeland Security Updates: August 9, 2022

COVID-19 Flexibilities Extended through October 23, 2022 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has announced another extension of coronavirus (“COVID-19”)-related flexibilities due to the ongoing pandemic. The flexibilities, which were set to expire on July 25, 2022, have been extended through October 23, 2022 for certain receipts and notices issued between March 1, 2020 and

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Citizenship and Immigration

USCIS’s H-1B Cap and Employment-Based Visa Updates

H-1B Cap Petitions Transferred to the California Service Center On June 16, 2022, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that certain H-1B cap petitions for Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2023 that were filed at the Vermont Service Center have been transferred to the California Service Center due to an influx of case submissions

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Department of Homeland SecurityImmigration

Department of Homeland Security Updates: May 20, 2022

Relief for Employment Authorization Document (“EAD”) Applicants Effective May 4, 2022 On May 3, 2022, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced a Temporary Final Rule (“TFR”) to increase the automatic extension period for certain EAD categories. The temporary extension period (initially 180 days from the expiration date listed on the EAD) has been

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Immigration

USCIS Updates

H-1B CAP: On February 28, 2022, almost a full year since the H-1B CAP lottery took place for fiscal year (“FY”) 2022, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced that it had reached the congressionally mandated 85,000 H-1B visa cap. Individuals who were not selected for the FY 2022 cap season will now

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COVID-19Immigration

USCIS Updates

Receipt Notice Delays Due to COVID-19 restrictions and filing increases, USCIS is currently experiencing a four to six week delay in issuing receipt notices for applications and petitions filed at a USCIS lockbox facility. The delay period varies according to the lockbox facility and application/petition filed, with more significant delays for individuals filing Form I-485,

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